Camera Suggestions

[Archbob]

SO I'm working on a public domain photos site using solely photos that I take myself(so I'm driving to alot of state and national parks). I do mostly scenics of nature (although I do take pictures of food, random objects, historical thing, and fossils as well).

Right now I'm using a small Song DSC-W530 pocket camera with 4x zoom supplemented by my I-phone Camera. I am thinking of buying a better Camera and lenses. What do you guys recommend?

 

[GoodGame]

Digital SLR

 

[innonimatu]

What do you guys recommend?

I recommend you be careful lest you be sued for taking a photo from the same angle some other guy already did... copyright claims have gotten that batshit crazy.

 

[Cutlass]

Canon is considered the best camera maker these days. But there are many good options. You might want to narrow it down by price range and features.

 

[GoodGame]

I recommend you be careful lest you be sued for taking a photo from the same angle some other guy already did... copyright claims have gotten that batshit crazy.

I'd argue hues, pixel proportions, and pixel count if I faced that.

 

[Archbob]

A friend wants to sell me his Cannon rebel along with a 15-220mm lens included. I could use the lens for color saturation, my current one sucks.

 

[Quintillus]

How much $$$ are you planning to spend? And how bulky is too bulky?

If you're spending $500-$1K and don't mind the bulk, a DSLR makes sense, and of those, Canon and Nikon are the two top brands. However, that's going to be a lot bulkier than what you have now. If photography is the primary objective of these trips, that might not be a problem... but it's not something everyone wants to be carrying around a lot.

If a DSLR it too bulky or expensive for your tastes, I recommend something such as this Sony HX9V camera as a nice in-between from the basic 3-5x zoom point-and-shoot like your current one and a big DSLR. It'll be a fair bit larger, but still pocketable unless you have small pockets. And with four times the zoom and considerably improved image quality, it's a nice step up. It's also pretty good with night photos (including outside and from a distance), if you take those.

(Note that Amazon's current price for it is overpriced by $50-$70. Its successor is more fairly priced, but I'm not familiar enough with it to know if it's truly preferable)

And if you want to always be prepared, you can do better on the cell phone camera front, too. If I were willing to spend the money on a cell phone, the one I'd get for a fantastic camera is the Nokia's flagship 808 PureView. Some people might prefer iOS to Symbian, but my, the camera! It's no comparison. Best camera on a cell phone that you can buy today, and likely will be the best until Nokia eventually releases a successor to it.

 

[Archbob]

I wouldn't mind a bulky camera, except when I'm Kayaking of course, but the point and shoot I have right now just get killed by any backlight and sucks when it comes to colors. How wide is the lens on the last Camera you mentioned. The one I have right now is 26mm.

 

[Archbob]

Would the colors be more lush and detailed on a DLSR like the Cannon Rebel model(especially with 15-220mm lenses) and would it deal better with backlight than my point and shoot?

 

[Cutlass]

A DSLR of the same generation of the point and shoot is going to outperform it in pretty much every respect. It's all a matter of whether you want to buy and carry that much camera. But there are some high end point and shoots that will give some excellent pictures. But what you really gain with a DSLR is the choice of superior lenses. And for serious photography the lens matters one hell of a lot.

 

[Archbob]

The issue with my current Camera is that I get photos like this. Also, the backlighting seriously blows, sky just looks white.

And the coloration, as you can tell, is quite a bit off. Too dull.

 

[Cutlass]

I took these pictures today with a Canon 12.1megapixel point and shoot. Point and shoots don't really get a lot better than this. Though the pixel count keeps going up. Zooms are generally not very good. If you want substantially better than this, you need to look into DSLRs.

Spoiler :

edit. the light was bad on these, as it was heavily overcast as i took them.

 

[Archbob]

Yeah, definately want a DLSR then. They image is ok, but the background behind the trees is just white and some of the image is blurry. Can anyone comment on the performance of a Cannon Rebel?

 

[Cutlass]

Well those pictures were taken between snow showers. So not a lot of blue in the sky.

For color production, this pic was taken a day earlier.

Spoiler :

 

[GoodGame]

I wouldn't mind a bulky camera, except when I'm Kayaking of course, but the point and shoot I have right now just get killed by any backlight and sucks when it comes to colors. How wide is the lens on the last Camera you mentioned. The one I have right now is 26mm.

Just get a strap or rig a simple mount. I've successfully taken pictures and video by digital SLR while driving in Chicago on a highway---no easy feat.

I'd consider your friend's offer if he's willing to sell it for about $250-$300 and it's in good condition. Otherwise you might do as well to buy used from a camera store.

 

[Cutlass]

This was taken through the windshield at about 70mph. Came out better than I expected.

Spoiler :

 

[Formaldehyde]

If you want to do serious photography, i.e. not snapshots, you definitely want a digital SLR. The greater the number of pixels the better. You also want a minimum of two zoom lenses, say an 18-55mm and an 85-250mm or so. You will get far more use out of the latter than the former, so if you want to start with only one lens get that one with the body. A lower f/stop will cost more money, but it means you can use it in more low-light situations without a flash, as well as giving you more options for depth of field. The lenses with lower f/stops typically have better optics as well, but the price will go up accordingly. If you only plan to shoot outside in daylight conditions with large depth of field, it isn't really all that important.

There are really only two viable vendors anymore: Canon and Nikon. The former is probably better bang for the buck, especially on the low end of their product lines.

 

[Archbob]

Anyone here have a Cannon Rebel and can tell me how it does? I checked on Amazon and the Rebel with the extra lens would run me about $1000 new.

 

[Zelig]

Anyone here have a Cannon Rebel and can tell me how it does? I checked on Amazon and the Rebel with the extra lens would run me about $1000 new.

There are about 10 different Rebel models.

 

[Formaldehyde]

This one is $840 with the additional lens and is currently the #1 Digital SLR on Amazon.